Tangled Minds (Society of Exalted Minds Book 1)

by A. M. Mahler

  “What’s going on?” Willow demanded, leaning in between our seats. “What did you mean in your text that you were leaving?”

  “Olivia and I have to get out of town immediately.” Jagger said, keeping his eyes out the front windshield. “I can’t explain, but we’ll be okay. I just wanted you to know that we were leaving on purpose.”

  Willow’s mind went blank. And how could you blame her? Jagger may have been telling the truth, but it sounded like madness.

  “What happened?” She asked. “Did you finally kill dad?”

  “Ha! No.” Jagger said. “I can’t explain. If I did, you’d think I was insane. Just believe me when I tell you it’s not safe for Livvy and me here.”

  Willow arched a brow at me. She was wondering why I had such a strong hold over her brother. She wasn’t suspicious, just curious.

  Jagger pulled into his neighborhood and slowed the car more. Of course, I knew he lived in the wealthy end of town, but I had never been to his house. In fact, I had never been in this neighborhood. Some of these homes had to be considered mansions, with long meandering driveways and lush, green lawns. Jagger stopped his car on the road between two driveways.

  “This is as far as I’m taking you.” He said. “I can’t risk going in.” He turned around in his seat and pressed an awkward kiss to her forehead. “I love you.”

  Sitting back in her seat, Willow crossed her arms. “I’m going with you.”

  “The hell you are!” Jagger said, angrily. We didn’t have time for these arguments. “You can’t come with us. It’s too dangerous.”

  “It’ll be dangerous here, too.” She responded. “You know he’ll take your leaving out on me and mom. If you leave, I’ll strike out on my own. You already know I have my own plan in place for escaping. I told you before that I keep a bag packed. All I need to do is go in and get it.”

  I said nothing while Jagger gaped at his sister. I saw her thoughts and her plan. She was serious about going, but her plan was not well thought out. She thought her friend’s brother could hide her at his apartment where he went to college. She was nervous about that, but desperate to get away from their father.

  “I am absolutely not taking you with us. You’re only sixteen, Willow!”

  “Jagger, I’ll be seventeen in two months.”

  “You need to finish high school.” He continued to argue.

  “So do you!” She was digging her heels in, but then so was he.

  “I’m close enough.”

  Willow rolled her eyes. “Close enough is not a diploma, Jagger.”

  “Willow, it’s impossible for you to come. You’re a minor. Stay here. I’ll spring you the day you graduate high school. I’ll get in touch somehow. I don’t know how yet because I’m about to ditch my cell phone.”

  Something flashed in Willow’s mind then. It was a thought or a vision of some kind of her father beating her and not stopping. Her mother was laying at her feet. The images passed quickly, and I wasn’t sure what they were, but Willow was serious about going with us. I had the fleeting thought that she might have had some premonition about the future, and it was horrifying. Based on that slim possibility, I had her back.

  “She comes.” I said. Willow’s eyes widened and Jagger snapped his gaze to mine in astonishment.

  “Are you out of your mind!?”

  She has to. At least for now. She had some kind of vision. I think she saw her and your mom’s death at your father’s hands. I don’t know if that was just a fear or if she actually saw it.

  “I think I would know if my sister could see the future.”

  She doesn’t know you’re a telepath that can cause excruciating pain.

  “Fair point.”

  “Okay.” Jagger said.

  Hope filled Willow’s face as her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. She didn’t expect Jagger to say yes, but she filled with promise. “You’re not just saying that to get me out of the car?”

  “No, I swear. Go get your bag. Leave your cell phone in the house. Don’t even talk to mom. I mean it, Willow.” She nodded wordlessly, grabbed her school backpack, slammed out of the car, and ran up their driveway.

  We both watched her until she disappeared into the house. Jagger ran a hand down his face. “Why did it never occur to me that she might be able to do something too?”

  “Maybe she can’t.” I said. “Right now, we don’t have the luxury of time, and if she can, she definitely can’t stay here. If she’s exposed, she’ll have no protection at all.”

  “We have no idea what’s coming.” He shook his head, still watching the door of the house.

  Welcome to my life, Jagger. This is what I grew up with. I’ve already ran once. If we can safely bring her back or leave her with a relative, we will. If this runs in your family like it runs in mine, she cannot stay here.

  He looked at me then, reached over, and linked our fingers. “You’re right. I’ll defer to you right now. You have more experience in this world than I do. I mean, I’ve had you all my life, but you’ve had Jeremiah.”

  “Here she comes,” I said. Willow was running back down the driveway carrying a duffel bag, winter coats, and what looked like a computer sleeve.

  “I can’t believe you’re still here!” She shoved everything onto the seat beside her. “I told mom I was going to make a donation. I had to talk to her, Jagger, she was right there. I told her I’d be right back.” Willow leaned forward and tapped at Jagger’s shoulder. “Jag, mom said dad was on his way home early. She said he told her to make sure we were both there. That’s why I said we’d be right back.”

  Jagger and I looked at each other as he put the car in drive and tossed our cell phones out the window. I could tell he wanted to floor it out of there, but if any neighbors looked out the windows, we couldn’t have them telling the police we went speeding out of the neighborhood.

  “Okay.” Jagger nodded, looking in the rearview mirror. “If I told you to leave your phone, why did you bring your computer? They can trace the IP address and cookies—” He was cut off by his sister’s scoff.

  “Jagger, you know I was planning on running away. Do you honestly think I’d be stupid enough to bring a device with me that could be traced? I have a VPN installed on here and all methods of tracking have been disabled. There are no scripts running. Plus, I only use a TRO browser and go incognito. This thing is airtight. Besides, if I left it behind, I’d be taking the chance of the machine being turned over to the police or something. I’m safe to go online. We need the internet, Jagger.”

  We can always drop it in a lake somewhere if we have to.

  Jagger programmed the car’s GPS to take us to the address my grandfather gave me. We drove in silence. Willow had tons of questions that she kept to herself for now. I admired her willpower. First and foremost, she believed Jagger had killed someone and we were running from the law. There were rumors going around the school about Mason and Jagger’s altercation. It had happened only hours before, but given everything that took place since then, it felt like it had been weeks ago. Jagger had achieved god-like status at that school. He would be remembered as the guy that possibly killed someone and then skipped town with his girlfriend and sister. Nothing could be done about it, but I hated that a ridiculous rumor could be his legacy instead of everything he had achieved.

  “Don’t worry about it, baby. That’s not our life anymore. We have much bigger things to worry about now. The least of which is ditching this car and getting another one.”

  Yup, the first thing they’ll do is search for his car. As we moved along through farmland and back county roads, eventually the GPS told us we were arriving at our destination. It was a dirt road we’d passed twice before we realized we were supposed to turn down there.

  “There’s no mailbox.” Willow said, sitting up straighter and looking around. “No marker.”

  “Maybe they have a P.O. Box.” Jagger shrugged and turned the car off the main road.

  According to the
odometer, we went a mile back through the forest—nothing around us; no place to turn around. Where the hell was my grandfather sending us? When the trees opened up to a clearing, a tall, dark-wood garage was in front of us. The metal door was much larger than a normal home garage, but not skinny enough to look like it was for a boat.

  And really, what would we do with a boat in the middle of Colorado?

  Jagger pulled his car off to the side of the clearing, leaving the door unblocked. The three of us got out of the car and looked around. Jagger and I scanned the area with our minds. We only picked up each other and Willow. We walked around the exterior of the garage. There were no windows and no other doors. The only way in was the metal bay door, which had a keypad on the doorframe.

  “I don’t suppose Jeremiah also made you memorize a random number sequence?” Jagger asked.

  “No.” I said. “But if he sent me here, it’s got to be a keycode I would know easily, right?”

  Jagger laughed. “Nothing about any of this has been easy, Livvy. I seriously doubt that keycode will be.”

  And of course, he was right. First, I tried my birthday, then my grandfather’s birthday, then my phone number, then my grandfather’s phone number, then my social security number. I didn’t know his social security number or I would have tried it too. I was getting frustrated. If he sent me here, he would know I had to get in. I tried the numbers of the address, and that didn’t work. Then, I tried the numbers in our address at home, and blessedly, the door began to rise.

  The three of us stood spread out in front of the door. I don’t know what I was expecting to find inside, but it wasn’t a huge white RV with the words “Freedom Elite” over the cab.

  “That,” Jagger said, pointing, “isn’t the kind of getaway car I was hoping for.”

  “But it’s perfect!” Willow gushed and hurried forward. Thankfully, it was unlocked and there wouldn’t be a scavenger hunt for the keys to get into it. However, the keys to the ignition remained to be seen. Willow stuck her head back out the door. “This thing is amazing!”

  Jagger and I walked in behind her and climbed the steps. It was cramped inside, so I opened the passenger side door and climbed in. The sunlight was the only thing we had to see by, but the way everything was cramped inside, made me think the RV had one of those slide out compartments to make it bigger. I looked around for the keys and found them stuck above the visor. Walking around to the driver’s side, I opened the door, stuck the key in the ignition and it started without a problem.

  “A vehicle no one would expect to find us in and a place to live.” Willow said, putting her hands on her slim hips. “You two have a lot of explaining to do. If your grandfather is behind this, Olivia, he’s really smart. Let’s get our stuff from the car, Jag. Olivia, pull her out.”

  Jagger arched a brow at his sister. “When did you become cruise director?”

  Willow crossed her arms. “Isn’t that the next logical step? We can’t drive around in your car, Jag, and weren’t you the one that said we had to get out of here?”

  Jagger looked over at me. “Still think she should come with us?”

  Smiling back at him, I adjusted the seat and mirrors while they walked back to the car.

  Jagger

  I was exhausted by the time Olivia pulled into a campground just past the New Mexico border. We had been on the road almost five hours straight, stopping only for a quick bathroom break at a Walmart and to get some food and gas. Willow glared at me when I scoffed about her buying over a hundred dollars-worth of makeup. I don’t know who she was looking to impress, but it sure wasn’t Clyde checking us in for two nights at the campground. It was the longest we dared stay until we were further away and came up with a plan as to where we were going.

  The campsite was a pull through, so we didn’t have to try any dicey maneuvering in our beast before we were comfortable driving it. Olivia pulled out a flashlight and figured out how to hook the RV up to the power set up. Willow read up on our new home during the drive, a twenty-seven-foot Thor Freedom Elite RV. She read about how to work the slide out and the water hookup, as well as where the hoses were stored. As soon as we were set up, she flipped some switches, and our space grew wider. Then she went out and took care of the water. Dumping the waste tank, she declared would be my job.

  With the lights on, we could better assess our new home. There was a couch, which folded out into a bed. A dinette, which also converted to a bed. A bunk above the driver’s cab and a queen-sized bed in the back. The bathroom was small, but it had a shower with a door, a small toilet, and a sink. It would keep us out of the public bathrooms at campgrounds. We had a microwave, a stovetop and oven, sink, and a nice-sized refrigerator. There was a closet in the back room for Olivia and I, with another one right across from the bathroom for Willow to use. There was a 40-inch TV that folded along the wall in Willow’s bunk that she pushed out so she wouldn’t kick it overnight. The manufacturers of the RV were very creative about storage and there looked to be enough storage space for our essentials. There was no room for ancillary things though.

  My heart hurt when I realized Olivia didn’t have any of her art supplies. All the beautiful things she created were left behind except the piece that I had grabbed. There were so many unanswered questions, but my mind was tired. My body was tired. This had been the craziest day of my life, and that included the time I had got hit by a car.

  “It looks like you guys have sheets on that bed, ugly ones, but at least there are sheets. Do you mind if I take a sleeping bag then? Next time we see a Walmart or Target, I’d like to stop and get some real sheets and blankets for my bunk, and a real pillow. You’ll probably want something more comfortable, too. Oh, we’ll need towels and stuff, I’m sure. But we might be able to get by with what we find at that little camp store.”

  Willow was full of ideas and was keeping a cool head—either that or she saw this as an adventure that she wasn’t treating seriously enough. Either way I was impressed. She was taking charge, at least for tonight, and I was happy to let her. The sixteen-year-old, however, was not going to be the one running the show after tonight. We may not be that much older than her, but at least Olivia and I were legal adults.

  “Sure, that’s fine.” Olivia said. “You can take them both if you think you’ll be more comfortable.”

  Willow eyed the bunk then climbed the ladder attached to the little wall and began setting up a nest for herself. Olivia gently tugged my hand and led me back to what would be our bedroom, which was barely larger than the bed. She pulled the privacy curtain closed and toed off her shoes.

  “I’m too tired to get changed.” She fell into the bed face-first. “I’m with Willow. I want new sheets. These are the scratchy kind.”

  After removing my shoes, I slid onto the bed next to her and together we shimmied under the covers—that felt like laying between sheets of paper. I agreed with the girls. Comfortable bedding was definitely in order. Olivia cuddled in close, and I banded my arms around her. Both of us were depleted emotionally and physically. She hadn’t even had the chance to mourn her grandfather yet.

  That morning, I had picked her up to go to school, and now, we were on the run with no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. And I had my sister with me. This was definitely not how I envisioned my life would go.

  THE NEXT MORNING, I awoke disoriented. I laid there next to Olivia as the events of the previous day came back to me. I’d ran away from home with my girlfriend and minor sister. Of course, I was eighteen, so I didn’t really run away. More like I moved away without telling anyone. Despite that I still had a minor with me, and I’d taken her out of state. That was probably some kind of federal offense. I didn’t even know who we were running from.

  I climbed over my still-sleeping girlfriend and stumbled to the bathroom. Willow’s closet at home was bigger than this, but it worked, and I wasn’t complaining. Jeremiah had all this ready, and I had no idea why. The damn thing even had a full tank o
f gas when we found it. It was fairly new and had pretty low mileage on it.

  My main concern with it though was that it wasn’t fast. We weren’t going to outrun anyone in it. If someone identified us in this, we were an easy target. We were three kids driving an RV around the country and needed a good cover story. The fake ID Jeremiah got me to go with my bank account put me at twenty-one years old. Still I didn’t look that old, but I wasn’t planning on hitting up a bar or a casino. It also gave me the name of Brian McCaffrey. So, I guess I needed to get accustomed to using that name, as I was going to need it to register at campgrounds. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention last night to know what name Olivia gave Clyde.

  I walked out into the main living space and stopped short, blinking like a drunk owl. Kim Kardashian was sitting at the dinette sipping gingerly from a Styrofoam cup. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. When I opened them again, she was still there. I had to be dreaming. First of all, why would Kim Kardashian be at a campground in New Mexico? Second, how would she have gotten into our RV without us knowing? Third, where the hell was my sister? Her bunk was empty.

  “Oh, good.” Kim said with my sister’s voice. “I did a passable job.” I looked closer, squinting in concentration. Kim had my sister’s hair color. I glanced down Kim’s body. Yeah, that was definitely not Kim’s body.

  Wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I whimpered, “I’m so confused. What the hell is going on?”

  “Obviously, it’s me, dumbass.” She said. “This is why I bought all that makeup.”

  “So, you could look like Kim Kardashian?”

  “No, so I could give us all new faces.” She said. Then she licked her thumb and swiped it down her cheek. Her tanned skin smudged. I dropped down into the dinette booth across the table from her.

  “I’m too tired for this.” I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. I was puzzled enough without faces being changed.